Monday, 6 November 2017

Stand up for Canadian First Nations

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abandons Canadian First Nations to Liberal Style of Government

When Charmaine Stick started her courageous struggle for First Nations
accountability and transparency, she knew it would be a long, hard journey and
it isn’t over yet.
Her own band’s leaders have launched an appeal to overturn Charmaine’s hard-won
legal victory requiring them to publish their salaries and expenses as well as
band’s audited financial statements. We’ve just found out that the Saskatchewan
Court of Appeal will hear the arguments in December.

We have to stand with Charmaine to win this appeal.
Here’s the background. A few years ago, Charmaine asked leaders at Onion Lake
Cree Nation why so many band members live in poverty even though the community
on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border has significant oil resources. When they
refused to provide answers, Charmaine went on a 14-day hunger strike.

Then, a little more than a year ago, the federal government stopped enforcing The First
Nations Financial Transparency Act. That law gives grassroots First
Nations people the right to see their band’s basic financial information on a
public website. More than 90 per cent of First Nations have complied with the
law. Onion Lake Cree Nation’s leaders have always refused to follow the law and
the government stopped enforcing the law.

That’s when Charmaine partnered with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Together, we launched a court application to enforce the First
Nations Financial Transparency Act. Hundreds of CTF supporters made
donations to cover the legal costs. The Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan
ruled in Charmaine’s favour – WE WON.

But Onion Lake Cree Nation’s leaders are appealing that victory.

We’ve got an excellent lawyer and we think we have a good chance of beating
this appeal. But appeals cost money. Charmaine’s leaders are more than willing
to burn the band’s cash on legal costs and they’re obviously hoping we’ll run
out of money. We can’t let Charmaine down as she continues to take this
courageous stand.

2 comments:

It says a lot about how gullible our peoples are that they kept supporting Prince Trudeau who promised much but has done nothing,and vilified Prime Minister Harper who did so much for us during his mandate?